Anais

French folk-blues chanteuse Anaïs first came to notice as frontwoman of the popular rock band Opossum before launching her solo career in 2003. Born Anaïs Croze in Grenoble on August 20, 1976, she spent her formative years in Marseille and later pursued English studies in Aix-en-Provence. She guided Opossum from 1999 until late 2002, the point at which the group disbanded after issuing its debut effort Excuse-Moi, J'voulais Te D'mander. The following spring she embarked on her initial solo tour, and in January 2004 she captured her live debut LP, The Cheap Show, for retail release one year afterward. The album’s unusual blend of chanson, folk, blues, pop and rap resonated widely, generating enormous grassroots momentum across France; it reached the top ten and ultimately moved more than half a million units—an extraordinary figure in a market where no prior live debut album had achieved comparable traction. The album returned to stores in 2006, now augmented by bonus tracks and a DVD. The year after that, Anaïs joined forces with LA punks The Blood Arm and created and staged the one-woman musical The Amber Story. Her first full studio album, The Love Album, crafted with hip-hop legend Dan the Automator, appeared in 2008; no further new release followed until 2012, when A l'Eau de Javel arrived.